A TEENAGE girl sobbed as she relived her nightmare at the hands of a shamed sexual predator.

Paedophile Darren Baldwin is today behind bars after his sickening crimes caught up with him nearly a decade later.

The 43-year-old began preying on his victim when she was just six years old, stealing the youngster’s childhood to satisfy his own depraved urges.

Now Baldwin, of Shaftesbury Avenue, Stockton, has been jailed for three years after a jury at Teesside Crown Court last month found him guilty of six counts of indecent assault and six counts of indecency with a child.

But his victim, now aged 15, blasted the sentence, which could see her childhood tormentor back on the streets within 18 months.

The girl, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, said: “It’s not fair that he’s ruined my life forever and he’s only got that. I have to live with this and he doesn’t even get that long.”

The victim was comforted by her family as she sobbed in the public gallery as the sentence was passed.

She said Baldwin had “ruined her life and there is no escape from the memories of what happened.”

Baldwin thought he had got away with his sick catalogue of sexual abuse, which happened over a year-long period from 2002 to 2003.

The court heard how he had told the child not to discuss what had happened, telling her “it’s our little secret”.

It was only when his victim last year confided in a boyfriend and was overheard by her mother that the police were called.

Baldwin has a previous conviction dating back to when he was 16 years old for indecently assaulting a four-year-old boy.

Adrian Dent, defending, said: “He has been subjected to abuse and threats. This week he was assaulted by two people, punched and scratched.

“He has been and will continue to be frightened. His life is now in tatters. He has lost his relationship with his partner, he has lost his home and lost his employment and faces a future of being an outcast in the area that he knows.”

Baldwin appeared at Newcastle Crown Court for sentencing on Friday, where Recorder Darren Preston told him: “You continue to deny the offences and accept no responsibility for what you did.

“This was a vulnerable child, a very young child. You were in a position of trust and you abused it. It goes without saying that your offence is so serious that a custodial sentence is required.”

Baldwin was jailed for three years and placed on the Sex Offenders Register. He was also made subject of a seven-year Sexual Offenders Prevention Order, banning him from contact with children.